* 
n in depositing its eggs on the horse. I was very busy at the time, 

‘idea of sewing, such as the process of preparing the nest of the V 
Dies is, that one day I discovered an Anthrax on the wing by © 
48 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 


































Here again Mr. Fowler disagrees with me, saying that the bird makes 
no nest, or, at least, he has never found one. I can only say that I have 
found numbers of the nests of these birds, none of which were in 
«abandoned nest of the crow or hawk,” but all were made, as before 
scribed, in holes in trees. I have had over fifty eggs of this species § 
me during the past season, and all were found in such nests as Th 
described. tite this species I also find that my accounts are supported 
by other author i 
Nuttall says, “the nest is usually in the hollow of an old orchard 
it is lined carelessly with a little hay, leaves, and feathers.” 
Audubon says, ‘The nest is placed in the bottom of the hollow tru 
of a tree, often not at a greater height than six or seven feet from he 
ground, at other times so high as from thirty to forty feet. It is co i 
posed of a few grasses and feathers.” 
Dr. Thompson, in ‘‘ Birds of Vermont,” says, ‘‘ Their nest, which 
made of grass and feathers, is placed at the bottom of a hollow tree or 
stub.” 
I give this matter this extended notice, not for the purpose of throw 
discredit on Mr. Fowler’s statements, for 1 know him to be a good 
server, but to show that my descriptions will faithfully apply to, at le 
the majority of occurrences in the breeding habits of the species ret 
red to. 
As to the matter of the Marsh Hawk’s nest being “rather nes 
woven,” to which Mr. Fowler takes exceptions, I will say. that p 
haps ‘‘interlaced” would be a better word, since ‘woven’ ' ve 
and Oriole, but ‘‘interlaced” conveys the idea of careful adjustme 
which should be understood in connection with the nest of this § 
cies.— EDWARD A, SAMUELS, Boston. 
PARASITE. — Inclosed you will find some thin shavings from boa 
and slabs where the Xylocopa abounds, with small eggs attached, W 
I strongly suspect to be those of Anthrax sinuosa. They are 
quite numerously around the openings of the cells of the former it 
and also extend to some distance from them. In pressing some of 
eggs with the point of a pin, small maggots made their appearance, 
my lens was not powerful enough to enable me to make out what 
were, but they seemed to me to resemble very much the Anthrax in 
earliest stages, as I have found it on the Xylocopa. I have no doubt yo 
can determine this matter,* and should it prove to be what I have SUl 
in it is, it will open an interesting field for future observation. 
n that strongly inclines me to the belief that they are the eggs 
the openings of a Xylocopa cell, acting in the same manner as the P 

arth, + Ss 2.) 5 th pr 4 ‘i, THe. 
DO rY ey ana 

